Improved car-brake



\ E. WHITEHEAD.

I Car Brake.

Patented July 10, I866.

Witnesses: Inventof:

AI. PNOTO'LITHQCU.N.Y. (OSBURNE'S PROCESS.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IMPROVED CAR-BRAKE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 56,302, dated July 10,1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD WHITEHEAD, of Cincinnati, Hamilton county,State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improve ments inRailroad-Oar Brakes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, making part of this specification. I

My invention consists of certain devices by which pressure andconsequent friction are brought to bear upon the sides and tops of therails of the track to produce the necessary braking effect upon the caror cars, the appliance being designed to act in conjunction or not withthe ordinary brakes in time of expected collision, &c.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of the frame of acar embodying my improvements. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of thesame.

A and B are, respectively, the frame and wheels of the car, and 0represents the rails.

To the braces D of the frame four clamps or brakes, E F G H, are hingedat e f g h, respectively. The clamps are connected by means of jointedlinks I J K L to a nut, M. The nut M is adapted to receive areciprocating vertical motion by means of the screw and pulley N O,suitably journaled in the frame.

The clamps E F are adapted, by the depression of the nut M, to pressupon the tops of the rails, and the clamps G H, by the same movement, toembrace the rails at the sides, as seen in Fig. 2, the whole acting toclasp the rails so tightly that the motion of the car or cars can bereduced until the train is stopped within the shortest space possible.

In the accompanying drawings the clamps are seen as applied to but oneside of the track. To equalize the strain they are applied to both, theapparatus, as described, being merely repeated and connected so as to beworked si multaneously.

This improvement is designed to be used on cars which are also providedwith the customary hand-brake, and only to be employed in an emergencywhere the latter would not exert suflicient power to check up the trainat a moments notice.

The pulley 0 may be operated by a chain or rope passing around anotherpulley located on the opposite side of the car-platform to that of thehandbrake.

The brakes of an entire train may be made to operate simultaneously inthe following manner: A chain may pass around all the pulleys O of atrain, and be wound on a drum under the locomotive-cab, and said drummay be rotated by the engineer bringing it in contact with one of thedriving wheels, thus checking up the train at once, and not losing amoments time in sounding the whistle and waiting for the brakeman toattend to the brakes.

The device can be so arranged as to bring the upper clamp in contactwith the top of the rails before the lower ones operate at all, and thelatter may then only impinge against the lower partof the rail-head, andnot bear against the sides of the rail. 7

I claim herein as new and of my invention- A car-brake adapted toembrace the rails of the track, constructed, substantially as described,of clamps E FG H, hinged as shown,

and operated simultaneously by means of nut M and screw N, as set forth.

In testimony of which invention I hereunto set my hand.

EDWARD WHITEHEAD.

Witnesses:

GEO. H. KNIGHT, JAMES H. LAYMAN.

